"John indeed baptized with water;
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost" (John 11.15). No mention of
water or method of baptism, just the Holy Spirit baptizing.

"Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were
also raised with him through faith in the working of God" (Col. 2.12).

Alas, some have been taught to look on burial as a means to
death; they try to die by getting themselves buried! Let me say emphatically
that unless our eyes have been opened by God to see that we have died in Christ
and been buried with him, we have no right to be baptized. The reason we step
down into the water is that we recognize that in God's sight we have already
died. It is to this that we testify. God's question is clear and simple. "Christ
has died, and I have included you there. Now, what are you going to say to
that?" What is my answer? "Lord, I believe you have done the crucifying. I say
Yes to the death and to the burial to which you have committed me." He has
consigned me to death and the grave; by my request for baptism I give public
assent to that fact. A Table in the Wilderness, p. 111, Watchman Nee.

Experiencing the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Broadly speaking, a Christian who has not yet
experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit is rather vague about the reality of
the spiritual realm. He is like the servant of Elisha whose eyes were closed to
that sphere. He may receive instructions from the Bible, yet his understanding
is confined to the mind because he still lacks revelation in his spirit. But
upon experiencing the baptism his intuition becomes acutely sensitive and he
discovers in his spirit a spiritual world opening before him. By the experience
of the baptism in the Holy Spirit he not only touches the supernatural power of
God but contacts God’s Person as well.

Now it is just there that spiritual warfare
begins. This is the period when the power of darkness disguises himself as an
angel of light and even attempts to counterfeit the Person and the work of the
Holy Spirit. It is also the moment when the intuition is made aware of the
existence of a spiritual domain and of the reality of Satan and his evil
spirits. The Apostles were taught in the Scriptures by the Lord after Calvary;
but they were made conscious of the real existence of a spiritual realm
following Pentecost. Spirit-baptism marks the starting point of spiritual
warfare.

Once a believer has contacted the Person of God
via the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he then has his own spirit released. He now
senses the reality of the things and beings in the spiritual domain. With such
knowledge (and let us call to mind that the knowledge of a spiritual man does
not accrue to him all at once; some of it may, and usually does, come through
many trials), he encounters Satan. Only those who are spiritual perceive the
reality of the spiritual foe and hence engage in battle (Eph. 6.12). Such
warfare is not fought with arms of the flesh (2 Cor. 10.4). Because the conflict
is spiritual so must the weapons. It is a struggle between the spirit of man and
that of the enemy—an engagement of spirit with spirit. (The Spiritual Man,
55-56, vol. 2.)

INSTANCE 1

“Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3.5). This is the
word of our Lord to Nicodemus.

When Paul
wrote to the saints in Rome he inquired, “Are ye ignorant that all we who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” Paul then continued
with these words: “We were buried therefore with him through baptism
into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory
of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become
united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection” (Rom. 6.3-5). Both the Lord Jesus and Paul
speak of the reality of baptism.

But some
people look at this matter of baptism from the physical point of view.
Their eyes see only the water. Hence they insist on baptismal
regeneration. They have not touched the spiritual reality. Other people try
to approach this question mentally. They maintain that water cannot
regenerate people. Accordingly, they explain that with some people baptism is
real and inward while with others it is false and outward. The first group can
enter into the kingdom of God but those in the second category are excluded.
They too have not touched spiritual reality in this matter.

The baptism
of which the Lord told Nicodemus is a reality. Paul also sees reality in
baptism: burial with the Lord for newness of life. He told the saints in
Colossae, “Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised
with him” (Col. 2.12). To him baptism and burial are one and the same thing;
so too are baptism and resurrection. He knows what is meant by being
buried with the Lord and also what is meant by being raised with the Lord. He does not see the water of baptism only,
nor does he view some as being truly baptized while some others are not. He
communicates to others the reality of that baptism which he has touched.

Brothers
and sisters, if you have seen baptism as a reality you naturally know what it
is. The question of its being true or false, inward or outward, simply does
not exist, because you see that to be baptized is to be buried and raised up
together with Christ. Having seen this reality, can you refrain from proclaiming
that baptism is indeed so big, so real, and so inclusive? As soon as a person is
shown the reality, then that which is false can no longer exist. Suppose
someone should say: “Now that I have been baptized, I hope I may be buried and
then raised together with the Lord.” The one who could utter such a statement
has not touched reality, since to him baptism is one thing and burial and
resurrection are quite another. But that person who perceives spiritual reality
knows what burial and resurrection are. Baptism is burial, baptism is
also resurrection. They are one and the same thing.

Do you
realize, brothers and sisters, that no one can ever perceive spiritual things
with his eyes fixed on the material, that no one can ever think through to the
spiritual with his brain? All spiritual matters have their realities. He who has
touched reality questions no more. (Spiritual Reality and
Obession,CFP white cover only, pp.7-8, by Watchman Nee)

Rethinking the Work,
CFP

pp.116-117, W. Nee

(6) One Baptism. Is it by immersion or by
sprinkling? Is it single or triune? There are various modes of baptism accepted
by the children of God, so if we make the form of baptism the dividing line
between those who belong to the church and those who do not, we shall exclude
many true believers from our fellowship. There are children of God who even
believe that a material baptism is not necessary, but since they are the
children of God, we dare not on that account exclude them from our fellowship.
What then is the significance of the “one baptism” mentioned in this passage?
Paul throws light on the subject in his first letter to the Corinthians. “Is
Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of
Paul?” (1.13). The emphasis is not on the mode of baptism, but on the name into
which we are baptized. The first question is not whether you are sprinkled or
immersed, dipped once or thrice, baptized literally or spiritually, the
important point is, into whose name have you been baptized? If you are baptized
into the Name of the Lord, that is your qualification for church membership. If
anyone is baptized into the Name of the Lord, I welcome him as my brother,
whatever be the mode of his baptism. By this we do not imply that it is of no
consequence whether we are sprinkled or immersed, or whether our baptism is
spiritual or literal. The Word of God teaches that baptism is literal, and is by
immersion, but the point here is that the mode of baptism is not the ground of
our fellowship, but the Name into which we are baptized. All who are baptized
into the Name of the Lord are one in Him.

Regeneration is being “born of water and the Spirit”
(John 3.5). This needs a little explanation. When John the Baptist came to
preach and to baptize he proclaimed: “I baptized you in water; but he shall
baptize you in the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1.8). Just as in Mark 1 John the Baptist
joined the water and the Holy Spirit together, so in John 3 our Lord Jesus also
joined the water and the Holy Spirit. Now since the water which John referred to
was the water of baptism, then the water which the Lord Jesus spoke of must also
be the water of baptism. The word the Lord answered Nicodemus with must be
something which the latter could quickly grasp. At that time many people knew of
John baptizing with water. It was but natural for Nicodemus to take the water
which the Lord Jesus mentioned as being the baptism of John. Had the Lord had
another thought in mind concerning water, it would not have been easily
comprehended by Nicodemus. We may therefore conclude that “water” here points to
the water of baptism.

The baptism of John was “the baptism
of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him that
should come after him, that is, on Jesus” (Acts 19.4). The baptism of repentance
in which John baptized with water could not regenerate people. Except one be
born “of water and the Spirit” he is not born again. The baptism of repentance
announces that not only man’s behavior—being deadly wicked—needs to be repented
of, but also man himself—being corrupted and dead—must be buried in baptism.
When one enters the water to be baptized he is confessing before God how wicked
is his behavior and how corrupted and dead in transgressions he is, that he
deserves nothing but death and burial.

Yet man is not born again “of water”
alone; he must be born both “of water and the Spirit.” He must receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit from the Lord Jesus before he can have God’s life. John the
Baptist preached “repentance” first (Mark 1.4), with the Lord Jesus following
immediately by adding “believe” to it (Mark 1.15). Repentance delivers us from
all which belongs to us. Believing gets us into all which belongs to God. We
enter the water through repentance, we receive the Holy Spirit by faith. To
enter the water and to receive the Holy Spirit in this way is to be born “of
water and the Spirit.” To repent and enter the water concludes the life of the
old man; to believe and be joined to the Holy Spirit is to receive the life of
God. This is regeneration.

Although regeneration is being born of water and the
Holy Spirit, the work of regeneration in its subjective aspect is all done by
the Holy Spirit (the objective aspect of the work of regeneration is all done by
Christ). It is for this reason that the Lord Jesus in John 3 mentioned “born of
water” once but “born of the Spirit” three times (vv.5,6,8).

Baptism in
the Millennial Kingdom

p.63 of
"Come, Lord Jesus", CFP

The classifications of the living creatures
according to Genesis are six in number: (1) aquatics, (2) birds, (3) fowls, (4)
creeping things, (5) beasts, and (6) man. But according to Revelation 4.7 there
are only four kinds: (1) lion—the mightiest among beasts (Prov. 30.30); (2)
calf—the biggest among domesticated animals; (3) man—the mankind on earth (this
does not signify the church, for in the kingdom era the knowledge of God will
fill the earth—see Is. 11.9). During that era there will be a difference in the
church between the saved and the overcomers; but in the new heaven and the new
earth there will no longer be such a difference. Though at the kingdom age men
on earth may believe in God, there will be no baptism in the Holy Spirit, and
hence they cannot become the body of Christ. They can only believe as
individuals. In the new heaven and the new earth they will be restored to the
state of Adam before the fall. They shall eat fruits, require sleep, enter into
marriage, and beget children, though they will no longer die, be sick, sin, or
be tempted by the devil. And (4) eagle - the king of birds.

BAPTISM

A Living Sacrifice, Basic Lesson Series
1, CFP, W. Nee

Realizing the comprehensiveness of baptism
in the Bible, we shall focus our consideration on just two of its
aspects which, we are convinced, every new believer must know. These two
aspects are: (1) What can baptism do for a person? and (2) What is the
real meaning of baptism? Before the believer is baptized, he should look
ahead and ask: Now that I am going into the water, what will baptism do
for me? This is viewing baptism in advance. But after baptism, the
believer needs to cast a backward look and ask the second question: What
is the meaning of this which I have undergone? The first is foresight,
an understanding before baptism; the second is hindsight, an
ascertaining following baptism.

Two Sets of Scriptures On Baptism

Set 1:

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
disbelieveth shall be condemned.

Mk. 16:16

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy
sins, calling on his name.

Acts 22:16

That aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in
the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is,
eight souls, were saved through water: which also after a true likeness
doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward
God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I Pet. 3:20-21

Set 2:

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through
baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through
the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

Rom. 6:3-4

Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with
him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Col. 2:12

The first set of Scriptures above is
concerned with what baptism will do to the one baptized, while the
second set explains the meaning of baptism. The one deals with what the
believer ought to know on this side of the water, that is, in advance of
baptism; the other treats of what he should know on the farther side of
the water, after baptism. Let us look at these respectively.

What Can Baptism Do for a Person?

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
disbelieveth shall be condemned.”

Mk. 16:16

1.
SHALL BE SAVED.

We would suppose that most Protestants become a bit
apprehensive over this verse. When they see it, they change it in their
mind to read “He that believethand issaved shall be baptized.” The Lord, however, has not so
said. In order to escape the error of the Roman Catholic Church,
Protestants unwittingly alter God’s Word and thus fall into another error. The Lord
speaks clearly that “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”
No one is authorized to change it to “he that believeth and is saved
shall be baptized.”

THE OBJECTIVE OF SALVATION IS THE WORLD

Now let us be clear as to the meaning of the
word “salvation” in the Bible. What is the objective of salvation? This
may not be easily understood by new believers because they lack an
accurate knowledge of what salvation is. According to the Bible,
salvation is related to the world, not to hell. The opposite of eternal
life is perdition, while the opposite of salvation is the world. We are
to be saved out of the world. As long as we belong to the world, we are
in the state of perdition.

It is imperative for us to understand man’s
state before God. People of the world today need not do anything to
cause them to perish. No one is required to kill in order to perish; nor
by not killing will any be spared from perdition. The whole world is
perishing, but God is pulling out some from among the perishing. So far
as the whole world is concerned, it is already damned; but so far as
individuals are concerned, this one and that one are being saved. It is
not separating a flock of one hundred into fifty sheep and fifty goats;
rather, it is netting some fish out of a sea of fish. All those that are
caught in the net are saved while those that remain in the sea are yet
lost.

Therefore, in answering the question of
whether one is saved or lost, the issue does not rest on one’s personal
conduct; it is instead settled by the person’s whereabouts. If he is in
the boat, he is saved; if he is still in the sea, he is lost. It makes
no difference if one is good or bad, a gentleman or a villain, with or
without conscience. As long as he is in the world, he is lost. If he has
not come out, has not left that place which is under judgment, he is a
condemned sinner.

SALVATION IS A MATTER OF POSITION

“For as through the one man’s disobedience
(Adam’s) the many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:19). It is not necessary
for a person to sin in order to be qualified as a sinner. Because of one
man’s sin, all have been constituted sinners. As long as the person is
in Adam, that is, in the world, he stands opposite to God, and is
therefore an enemy of God. His position is wrong, for it is a lost
position. This, then, is the story of the unsaved.

Brethren, let us be absolutely clear as to
the real meaning of “salvation.” It is a word frequently used but used
with such confusion. So far as today is concerned, eternal life is not
as broad in its scope as salvation, for to have eternal life is today a
personal matter. But to be saved indicates both a coming out of a
particular brotherhood as well as a receiving of eternal life. Hence to
have eternal life is purely personal while to be saved is personal plus
corporate.

Salvation speaks of my leaving one
brotherhood, and entering into another. Eternal life merely tells me
what I have entered into, but it leaves unmentioned from where I came.
Salvation includes the coming out as well as the entering in, whereas
eternal life simply deals with the entering in. As a result, during this
present age salvation is more comprehensive in its scope than eternal
life, for it deals with the matter of being delivered from the world, of
coming out of the world.

Let us notice the four cardinal facts
concerning the world as shown in the Bible: (a) The world is condemned
or judged before God, (b) the world lies in the evil one, (c) the world
crucified the Lord Jesus, and (d) the world is an enemy to God. Please
note that the world not only sins, but crucified the Lord Jesus as well.
It is therefore God’s enemy. These are the four cardinal facts of the
world as God sees it. All who are in the world, irrespective of their
personal conduct, are already judged and thus in perdition.

What is wrong with people in this world is
far more than personal unrighteous acts of behavior. Their very position
is wrong before God. How can a person forsake the world if he is still
keenly aware of its loveliness? But one day he is made to see the wrong
position of the world before God. However lovely the world may be, it
has to be forsaken. So salvation deals with deliverance from an improper
relationship with and position in the world.

The Jewish people once cried out, “His blood
be on us, and on our children” (Matt. 27:25). Although I am not directly
responsible for the slaying of the Lord Jesus, my forefathers did murder
Him. Even though I am not personally engaged in the act, yet I belong to
that brotherhood which has slain the Lord. The brotherhood I am with is
God’s enemy and it is condemned. Whether I myself am right or wrong is
another question. What lies before me is this: I need God to enlighten
me that I may see that the brotherhood to which I belong is wrong. The
world I am in is wrong in that it has killed the Lord Jesus and is
therefore constituted God’s enemy. It is already judged by God. I need
to be released from such a relationship; I need to be delivered from
that position.

What is meant by salvation then? To be saved
is to be released from that brotherhood, that position, and that
relationship to the world. In other words, I come out of the world.
People are usually most concerned with their personal justification, but
they need to be reminded of the place from which they have been saved.
Salvation is to be saved out of the world, not merely out of hell, for
the world is under the judgment of God.

BAPTISM FOLLOWS BELIEVING

There is not the slightest doubt that
whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus has eternal life. We have preached
this glad news for many years. As soon as one believes in the Lord
Jesus, whoever he may be, he receives eternal life and is thereby
forever favored by God. But let us remember: believing without being
baptized is not yet salvation. Indeed, you have believed; indeed, you
have eternal life; but you are not yet reckoned as a saved person in the
eyes of the world. As long as you are not baptized, you will not be
recognized as saved. Why? Because no one knows your difference from the
rest of the world. You must rise up and be baptized, declaring the
termination of your relationship with the world; then and only then are
you saved.

What is baptism? It is your emancipation
from the world. It frees you from the brotherhood to which you once
belonged. The world knew that you were one with it, but the moment you
are baptized, it immediately becomes aware of the fact that you are
finished with it. The friendship which you had maintained so many years
has now come to an end. You were buried in the tomb, you terminated your
course in the world. Before baptism, you knew you had eternal life;
after baptism, you know you are saved. Everybody recognizes that you are
the Lord’s, for you belong to Him.

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved.” Why? Because having believed and been baptized, it is now an
open fact where one stands. Were there no faith, there would not be that
inward fact which alone makes things real. But with that inward reality,
baptism puts one outside of the world and terminates the former
relationship with the world. Baptism, therefore, is separation.

NO BAPTISM, NO TESTIMONY

“But he that disbelieveth shall be
condemned.” Disbelief alone is enough for condemnation. As long as one
belongs to the world brotherhood, his disbelief seals his condemnation.
In contrast, he who believes must be baptized, for as long as he is not
baptized, he has not come out of the world in outward testimony.

We discover three amazing facts in the
religious world of Judaism, Hinduism and Islamism.

(a) Judaism persecutes the baptized. Among
the Jews, a person may be a secret Christian without being persecuted.
The greatest difficulty with many hundreds and thousands of Jews is not
in believing the Lord Jesus but rather in being baptized. Once the
person is baptized he is liable to be cast out and disowned.

(b) Hinduism ostracizes the baptized. In India, no one
will lay hands on you if you remain unbaptized. But as soon as you
arebaptized, you will be ostracized. It is as if the world
permits you to have eternal life but stands against anyone being
baptized.

(c) Islamism murders the baptized. The
reaction of Islamism is more severe. It is rare to find a living
Mohammedan who has turned Christian, for the Moslems kill those that do.
One of the most successful workers among the Mohammedans, Dr. Zwemer,
once declared that his work would never be big since the results of his
labor all ended in death; no one lived on. Among the Mohammedans, those
who believe must immediately be sent away or else within two or three
days after baptism they will be murdered.

Baptism is a public announcement that
declares, “I have come out of the world.” Never take the word
“salvation” purely in the personal sense. According to the Bible, it is
more a matter of coming out of the world than of escaping hell.

2. UNTO THE REMISSION OF SINS.

“And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission
of your sins” (Acts 2:38). Does the word of the apostle sound strange in
our ears? Again, many Protestants seem to have difficulty with this
verse so plainly spoken by the apostle. In what way can baptism lead to
the forgiveness of sins? Is it not strange that the apostle does not lay
stress on “believing” in his message?

We may ask ourselves whether Peter in this
message recorded in Acts 2 is seeking to persuade people to believe. Not
at all. Is this a reflection upon Peter’s ability to preach the gospel?
Is his preaching inferior to ours? Is his presentation inadequate? We
know that, according to the whole Bible, the most important point
touching the gospel is belief. How then is it that Peter overlooks such
a cardinal feature? He can omit other less important aspects but surely
not this one. Yet strangely enough, he speaks on baptism instead of on
faith, and the Holy Spirit causes a pricking of the hearts of those who
listen to him. In accordance with orthodoxy, we would claim that faith
alone is necessary; but Peter declares that his hearers must be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ.

Why is it that Peter speaks only of baptism?
It is because all of his hearers were participants in the killing of the
Lord Jesus. Fifty days ago they had cried out: “Away with this man!”
(Luke 23:18) They had been in the crowd shouting their rejection. Now,
though, some of them desired to be separated from the crowd. How? By
being baptized. Through baptism they would come out of the world and
sever their relationship with that brotherhood. As soon as I step into
the water to be baptized, my sins are remitted, that is, I come out of
the brotherhood to which I once belonged. This is why Peter on Pentecost
tells them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus that their sins
may be remitted. This single act of baptism causes them to come out of
the world.

Do you now see that you who originally were
of the world and therefore were enemies of the Lord will be saved if you
come out of it? You need to confess before God and man that you have
come out and are today no longer associated with the world. This is the
greatest teaching of Pentecost. Let our minds be molded by God’s record
instead of by any system of Protestant theology.

3. WASH AWAY SINS.

Let us next consider the case of Paul.
Ananias says to Paul, “Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins,
calling on his name” (Acts 22:16).

Paul is universally accepted as the foremost
teacher and prophet and apostle in Christianity. What if there were some
flaw in his experience as well as in his teaching? He is told not to
tarry but to arise and be baptized. Why? To wash away his sins. The
Roman Catholic Church errs here in changing this verse into a personal
experience before God. They fail to see that this Scripture deals with
the question of the world. Consequently they baptize dying people in
order to wash away their sins. They do not recognize that baptism is
related to the world instead of to God. But Protestants equally err in
attempting to hide the verse.

Being formerly a person of the world, Paul,
now that he has both believed and seen the Lord Jesus, should arise and
be baptized. Thus baptized, his sins are washed away, for he has severed
his relationship with the world. If one becomes a Christian secretly
without being baptized, the world will still consider him one of its
own. The believer may say he is saved, but the world will not accept his
statement. Not until he is baptized does he compel the world to see his
salvation. Who would be so foolish as to go into the water unless there
were a good reason for it? Yes, as soon as a Christian is baptized he is
freed from the world. Hence this water is linked to the world.

The world will still reckon a person one of
its own if he does not give an outward expression of his inward faith.
For example, in Kuling, Foochow, there is an idol festival in the
autumn. Every inhabitant is supposed to contribute to it. If one merely
says he has believed in the Lord and cannot therefore participate, he
will nonetheless not be excused. But let him be baptized, and he will
immediately be known as having left the world. Consequently, baptism is
the best way of separation. Through baptism the believer declares to the
entire world that he has severed his relationship with it and has come
out of it.

Since baptism is a public testimony, it
should be openly conducted. Oftentimes unbelievers may come to a
baptismal service. But some believers suggest that in order to avoid
confusion there should not be too many spectators in a baptismal
service. Well then, does this mean that John the Baptist has yet
something to learn at their feet, for without doubt the scene at
the Jordan River was quite disorganized! No, let the world witness what
we are doing!

4. SAVED THROUGH WATER.

God’s words maintain a unity of thought. It
is said in 1 Peter 3:20-21 “. . . in the days of Noah . . . wherein few,
that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” This gives a slightly
different angle to salvation. The Lord states that “he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved”; Peter declares on the Day of Pentecost,
“Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit”; Paul is told to “arise and be baptized, and wash away
(his) sins, calling on his (Christ’s) name”; but Peter here shows us how
to be saved through (“dia” in the original) water.

Whatever cannot pass through water is not
saved but is drowned. At the time of Noah all were baptized, but only
eight souls came safely out of the water. Except for the eight, all were
washed down and failed to come up. In other words, to them the water
became the water of death. But to us, this water is the water of
salvation. They were immersed by the water and sank to the bottom, but
we emerged from it. Do you not notice that there is something positive
in Peter’s word? It is quite true that when the flood came, all mankind
was drowned. There were nevertheless eight persons in the ark who
emerged from the water. The water could not retain them. These eight
were saved while the remainder all perished. Today the whole world lies
under the wrath of God. Yet if I am baptized, I have passed through
God’s wrath and have come out from the condemned world. This is the
meaning of baptism.

Baptism is immersion on the one side and
emergence on the other side. It speaks of passing through the water and
of coming out of it. Let us emphasize the side of emergence. All went
into the water, but only eight persons came out. Today we too are saved
by baptism. How is this? Because we have entered into the water and have
then emerged from it. No person who has not yet believed in the Lord
Jesus should be baptized, for he will not be able to emerge from the
water. But we believers can testify to the world that we have found the
way out.

HEREAFTER WE ARE OUT OF THE WORLD

From this first set of four Scripture
passages, we now ought to be clear as to what baptism can do for us. As
we are baptized, we are delivered from the world. The new believer
should not let many years pass before he is liberated from the world.
The first thing he should do is be baptized. He must understand what the
state of the world is before God. What is it to be saved? It is to be
dissociated from one’s former state. It is to have one’s relationship
with the world cleanly dissolved. Henceforth the believer is on the
other side of the world. The newly converted needs to be shown this way.

Soon after one has believed in the Lord, he
should be shown that he is one who stands outside the world. His baptism
is a definite expression of his being delivered from the world.
Hereafter he abides in the ark and therefore has gone over to the other
side. Many things he cannot do, not only for the sake of his having
believed in the Lord Jesus but also because of his having been baptized.
He has crossed over a bridge to the other side. This makes baptism most
meaningful.

BAPTISM MEANS YOU ARE FINISHED

The error of Protestantism is in overlooking
the significance of baptism when it seeks to perfect the doctrine of
salvation. We must restore the place of baptism today. What is its
meaning? It is a coming out of the world; it is the proper procedure for
being delivered from the world. When one is baptized he declares to
people that he has come out of the world. Miss M. E. Barber has put it
in poetic form: “Then the grave, with dear ones weeping, knowing that
all life has fled.” These dear ones know that you are finished, that you
have come to the end of your road. Such baptism is most effective.
Anything higher than this would be impractical. You must come out of the
old realm. To have eternal life is the story of your spirit before God;
but to be saved is your testimony to the world by declaring you no
longer have any part in it.

What Is the Real Meaning of Baptism?

Now that the Christian is baptized, he needs to look back
and assess the real meaning of baptism. “Or are ye ignorant that all we
who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom.
6:3). “Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also
raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from
the dead” (Col. 2:12). This is a looking backward, not forward. Remember
that the words in Mark 16, Acts 2, Acts 22, and 1 Peter 3 were words
spoken beforebaptism,
while the words in Romans 6 and Colossians 2 were spoken afterbaptism. After baptism, we are notified by God that in
our baptism we were actually baptized into the Lord’s death and were
buried with Him, and so also we were raised with Him in resurrection.

Romans 6 stresses death and burial, though
in addition it touches upon resurrection. Colossians 2, however,
emphasizes burial and resurrection. It is therefore a step further, for
its focal point is resurrection. The water serves as a tomb. What is
buried must be dead, but what emerges must be alive in resurrection.
Romans describes the first part of the truth and Colossians the last
part of the same truth.

1. SO GREAT A GOSPEL

Perhaps one time when you sensed the
heaviness of your sins, you heard of the death of the Lord Jesus. Such
news was truly the gospel to you. Or, perhaps at a time when you were
conscious of how wicked you are and, tried your best to free yourself
from the dominion of sin and yet couldn’t—perhaps at that time you
learned that you were already dead. That indeed was the gospel to you.
Praise be to God, for such is the gospel of Jesus Christ. As the death
of the Lord is a great gospel, so our death in Christ is also a great
gospel. It is a joyous thing to know of the Lord’s death; it is equally
joyous to know of one’s own death in the Lord. What is your first
thought upon hearing of the news of death? Like Joseph of Arimathea, you
think of burial, for burial is the first human reaction to death. The
gospel proclaims today that you are dead in Christ. The first thing to
do thereafter is to prepare for burial.

Therefore, beloved, when you step into the water of
baptism or when you look back to your baptism after the lapse of many
years, you need to remember that you are one already dead. You ask
people to bury you because you believe you are dead. You would no doubt
vigorously object if anyone should want to bury you before your death.
Even if you were too weak to voice your objection, you would certainly
resist being buried before you had breathed your last breath. Death is
therefore theprerequisite of burial.

New believers should be instructed that at
the time of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus they too were crucified.
It is on this basis that they request to be buried in water. But just as
the Lord Jesus was raised from among the dead, they too shall be raised
through the working of the same power of resurrection within them. In
coming out of the water, they become resurrected ones; they are no
longer their former selves.

This is something which they ought often to
look back upon. Having believed that they were dead, they asked to be
buried. Now having emerged from the water, they thus shall walk in
newness of life. They are now on the resurrection side.

2. WE ARE IN CHRIST

Once there was a heading in a newspaper
which read: “One Person, Three Lives.” The story was this: after a
pregnant woman had been murdered, the medical authorities subsequently
discovered that there were twins in her womb. Hence, the peculiar
headline! May we draw your attention to the fact that in the case of our
Lord, it is one Person but countless lives. This is actually the meaning
of the scriptural phrase, “in Christ.” Outwardly the murderer killed
only the mother, but since twins were in the mother’s womb, they too
died when the mother died. Likewise, this happens to those who are in
Christ. When Christ died, we too died.

“But of him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:30).
It is of God that we are in Christ, and the fact is we
are in Christ. Since one died, we all died. Were we ignorant
of the meaning of being in Christ, we could never understand what
co-death with Him is. The twins could die, together with the mother,
because they were in the mother’s womb. Spiritual truth is even more
real than physical fact. God has joined us to Christ, hence His death is
our death.

We have already died in Christ. Let us believe
this fact. In being immersed in and emerging from the water, we declare that
we are on the other side of the tomb. This is resurrection. The reckoning in
Romans 6 is to reckon to our being alive to God in Christ Jesus as well as
to our being dead to sin in Christ Jesus. Though in ourselves we may not
feel any difference, yet this glorious experience is in Christ.

We sincerely hope that all new believers will be
brought into this exercise. In realizing they are dead, they allow
themselves to be buried in water. By seeing they are resurrected, they come
out of the water to serve God.

BAPTISM AS AN ANSWER TO GOD

Gleaning in the Fields of Boaz, CFP,
30-32, W. Nee

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy
sins, calling on his name.
(Acts 22.16)

I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
(1 Cor. 10.1-2)

Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death?
(Rom. 6.3)

In these three passages we will see the
meaning of baptism. Baptism is “not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3.21). Since it is an inquiry
or demand of a good conscience towards God, it is therefore an answer to
God. God must therefore be asking a question. The answer to His question
is an act, which is baptism. It is logical for us to believe that the
question God asks is also formulated in an act—in the cross. What God
asks of the believer is the following three-fold inquiry: (1) Look at
the cross where My Son was crucified for your sins; what is your
response to it? (2) I have included you in the death of Christ; you were
nailed with Him there on the cross; what is your answer to this? and (3)
Having been given such a wonderful Savior, what is to be your attitude
to Him hereafter?

Baptism is our answer to all three parts of
this question. It is our answer to the cross. First of all, God placed
the sins of us, the worst persons in the world, upon Jesus, the best
person in the world. The blood of Jesus washes all our sins away. What
have we got to say to this? Our answer is “Baptize me.” Baptism is the
answer of a good conscience towards the matter of sins. If one is
baptized, he must know that the blood of Jesus has washed all his sins
away. God puts a representative thing before us—the cross; and we, too,
put a representative thing before Him as our answer—baptism. Baptism is
our response to God, embodied in an act. Though we say nothing, God
understands, the angels understand, and even Satan understands. This act
of confession reaches God, who also accepts it.

Secondly, God declares that it is not only
our sins but even ourselves whom He has nailed to the cross with Christ.
We are altogether rotten and sinful, and therefore He can do nothing
with us except to finish us on the cross. How do we respond to that?
Again, our answer is baptism. Since I have died with Christ, I will be
baptized to show that I am baptized into His death. I am rotten and
vile, from inside to outside; there is no hope for me; and hence, I must
be eliminated. Thank God, in Christ I died, I am finished.

And thirdly, having the issues of my sins and my
self settled through the blood and the death of Christ (for His blood has
cleansed me from my sins and His death has eliminated me), what should be my
attitude towards Christ from now on? Once more, I answer with baptism. For
in baptism I am baptized into Christ. From now on “it is no longer I that
live, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2.20). Whatever Christ does I do. His
all becomes my all. His power becomes my power; His glory, my glory. All
that He is and all that He does become mine, even my very life. We have
become one. No one sees me anymore; all only see Him.

Baptized into Christ. What shall I do with such
a Savior? What will be my life from now on? My answer is certain: from this
moment on Christ becomes my aim, my goal, my Lord, my life, my all. I live
for Him alone, not for the world nor for self, but wholly and only for Him.
Baptism is like the “second edition” of Calvary, that is, it is my personal
version of Calvary.

Saved Through Baptism

From Glory to
Glory, CFP, 79-100, Ch. 5, by Watchman Nee

It came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground,
and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the
daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all
that they chose. And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not strive with man
for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and
twenty years. The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also
after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and
they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of
old, the men of renown. And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that he had
made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And Jehovah
said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the
ground; both man and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the
heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found favor
in the eyes of Jehovah. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a
righteous man, and perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God.
(Gen. 6.1-9)

God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were
with him in the ark. (Gen. 8.1a)

The ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the
month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased
continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day
of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. (Gen. 8.4,5)

It came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month,
the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth:
and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the
face of the ground was dried. And in the second month, on the seven and
twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry. And God spake unto Noah,
saying, Go forth from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy
sons’ wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is
with thee of all flesh, both birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the
earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went
forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. (Gen.
8.13-18)

Noah builded an altar unto Jehovah, and took of every clean beast and of
every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And Jehovah
smelled the sweet savor; and Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again
curse the ground any more for man’s sake, for that the imagination of
man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more
everything living, as I have done. (Gen. 8.20,21)

That aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in
the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is,
eight souls, were saved through water: which also after a true likeness
doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of
the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 3.20,21)

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. (Mark 16.16a)

The story of Noah’s ark is familiar to all.
What we would like to do is to learn what the Bible really shows us in
that story. In the matter of our salvation, the Bible approaches it from
several different angles: some of it speaks of our position before God;
some of it, of our acceptance by God; some, of our communion with God;
and some, of our position with the world. All this may sound
complicated, so let us use some illustrations to explain them.

Several Expressions of Salvation

The coats of skins mentioned in Genesis
3—“Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and
clothed them” (v.21)—expresses salvation. But what aspect of salvation
does it represent? It pictures for us how we human beings may be
justified before God.

The offering of Abel told of in Genesis 4
also expresses an aspect of salvation. Now the offering of Cain was
rejected by God, but Abel’s offering was accepted. This is because Cain
offered what was of himself, whereas Abel offered what was of God—even
the lamb of atonement. All the proper sacrifices mentioned in the
Scriptures are a reflection of God’s acceptance of us human beings. The
story, for example, of the prodigal son recorded in Luke 15 speaks of
God’s acceptance of sinners. The first chapter of Ephesians discloses
how God accepts us in the beloved Son (1.6 AV). Likewise, too, the
fourth chapter of Genesis with its narrative of Cain and Abel suggests
this aspect of salvation, which is, God’s acceptance of man. Even the
rapture of Enoch spoken of in Genesis 5 reveals God’s salvation—in this
case, that aspect of it which denotes victory over death.

Thus Genesis 3 expresses that facet of God’s
salvation which the Bible elsewhere calls justification; Genesis 4
speaks of God’s acceptance; and Genesis 5 stresses the matter of
overcoming death. The ark in Genesis 6 also expresses salvation, only it
deals with an aspect different from those of Genesis 3, 4 and 5. For it
reflects the relationship of Christians to the world. How is a Christian
to be delivered from all which is condemned by God? How is he to be
released from all which is subject to God’s judgment? We shall see how,
through accepting God’s salvation, we are freed from the condemnation
and judgment of God.

Sin has its various aspects. That sin
depicted for us in chapter 3 of Genesis is a sin against God—both a sin
before Him and a sin that is rebellious against Him. Wherefore, in the
very same chapter, we are told how such sin before God needs to be
covered by the coats of skins provided by God, so that man can be
justified before Him. The sin told of in chapter 4 is likewise a sin
against God, but it is also one against man’s neighbor. Cain committed
the sin of murdering his brother. He violated the two greatest
commandments of God: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”; and, “thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself.” Such sin requires sacrifice to be offered
by man to God so as for him to be accepted. Even sin against man needs
acceptance before God, otherwise that sin shall remain. The sin of
Genesis chapter 5 is again different from the aforementioned sin since
it tells of the sin of forgetting God. For by this time people had
largely disregarded God and walked according to their own will. They ate
their own meals and passed their days as they desired. Only one person
at that time—Enoch—walked with God. The whole world was full of death
because people did not want God. However, God redeemed Enoch completely
from this deadly world so that he should not see death. Yet while the
sin of chapter 5 was the sin of the multitudes, the sin delineated in
chapter 6 was a corporate sin. It was a sin which was committed against
God by the world of mankind as a “kosmos”—as one grand organized entity.
Hence the world was its scope, and thus Genesis 6 tells of how the
entire world system had sinned against God.

The Judgment of the Flood

At the inception of chapter 6 we discover
that the fallen angels sinned together with fallen men. The “sons of
God” spoken of here were the fallen angels and the “daughters of men”
spoken of were the fallen men. Both had been created by God and both had
spirit. But when they joined themselves together to sin, the world was
bound to come to an end. Those who sinned in the first world were angels
in the heavenlies; those who sinned in the second world were men on the
earth. And when they sinned together, the end unquestionably was soon
coming to pass. Sinful angels and sinful men would shortly be judged by
God. Now man had become especially “flesh”—whether in doing good or in
committing sin, it nonetheless was flesh. Therefore, God would not
strive with man forever. Formerly the Spirit of God strove with man, but
still man refused to hear the voice of God. Consequently, He finally
gave man up. In other words, man had become so corrupted that the Spirit
of God could not strive with him anymore, which meant that even the Holy
Spirit could not change him. As a result, the Holy Spirit drew back and
let the world go through judgment.

Please understand that your own flesh today
is not any better than the flesh was in Noah’s time. Unless we allow the
flesh with its lusts and passions to be crucified, then the Holy Spirit
has no way to work in us either. As in Noah’s day, the Holy Spirit will
not attempt to persuade man to reform, for he is beyond repair; He today
can only try to convince man to be born again. The flesh can do nothing
except to sin; the regenerated of God alone can do any good.
Regeneration is not tears, confession or zeal; it is not being a good
church member, reading the Bible, and praying; regeneration is the act
of receiving a new life from above, that is, from God himself. In short,
regeneration is a second birth.

If the world becomes full of sin, something
must be done first before the Holy Spirit can commence to work. That
first thing is for God to send the Lord Jesus to this world. Once man
becomes a sinner, the Lord Jesus and not the Spirit must come first.
Should the Holy Spirit come first, He can do nothing. Only after the
Lord Jesus has the sinner judged will the Holy Spirit be able to work.
Hence, the first of the many parables found in Luke chapter 15 is that
of the shepherd—the Lord Jesus—seeking the lost sheep. The second
parable is the woman—the Holy Spirit—who sweeps the house to find the
lost piece of silver. Without the redemptive work of Christ, the Holy
Spirit can do nothing. If the work of Christ remains unfinished, the
work of the Holy Spirit cannot commence. But since the work of Christ is
already done, the Holy Spirit is now able to work. Accordingly, in
Genesis 6 we have delineated for us first the work of redemption, and
only then in Genesis 8 do we observe the dove which expresses the work
of the Holy Spirit.

“The end of all flesh is come before me; for
the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will
destroy them with the earth” (Gen. 6.13). God saw that the earth was
filled with violence and sins, that it was corrupted to the core. So, He
declared that its end had come. There was no other way but to bring all
before Him to an end. God judged them all and destroyed all flesh—both
of men and of living things—by the universal flood.

What many Christians fail to realize is the
position of the world before God. Today when the brothers and sisters
are exhorted to be separated from the world, it is almost as though it
were as difficult as trying to snatch away a piece of chocolate from a
child’s mouth. It appears so hard because of the fact that Christians do
not discern the position the world has before God. Let us recognize that
salvation has not only its personal aspect but also its corporate
aspect, just as sin too has its corporate dimension as well as its
personal dimension. The people who crucified the Lord Jesus at Calvary
were not only the Jews but the whole world as well. Those at enmity with
God at that time were not merely Jews, they included all and everything
that constituted the entire world system.

Let us take, for example, the enmity between
two nations: is it something personal or corporate? We of course know
that this cannot be termed a personal relationship. If some person in
one of the two countries was to treat somebody in the opposite country
well, then this would be a personal relationship. But today it is not a
matter of being good or bad on the part of one or several individuals in
one country towards one or several individuals in the other, such as in
the case of a personal animosity emerging as a result of one person’s
parents being killed by one or several people from the enemy country; it
is instead a matter of the whole country standing as an enemy nation. It
is a corporate antagonism between country and country. So that here is
not a speaking of one individual but a speaking of the entire world
system—including its organization, customs and reputations—as the enemy
of God. As long as you and I are part of that world system, we are an
enemy of God, from which we need to be delivered. And once having seen
this, you and I will not be found exhorting people to reform or change,
for we know that all these are useless. In the eyes of God, the entire
world system—the “kosmos” itself—is corrupted. So that God is at enmity
with the world, and the world is at enmity with Him. All who love the
world do not love God, and the love of God cannot be in their hearts.
All who befriend the world just naturally become enemies of God. And
this is precisely the way God perceives it.

Let me ask you, do you want to be delivered
from hell, which is the lake of fire? I believe we all desire to be
delivered from such a destiny and to enter New Jerusalem. Many expect to
be saved and to go to heaven. And this aspect of salvation is called, in
the Bible, justification and acceptance by God. Yet there is another
aspect of salvation which Biblically can be termed deliverance from the
world. Deliverance from the world actually goes hand in hand with
deliverance from the lake of fire.

The Bible tells us God found but one man,
Noah. The first man Adam had been corrupted and had come to his end.
Nothing could be done with him. So God found another man, and this
second man was Noah. Noah was accepted by God, and he served as a type
of Christ. Through him, God set up a way of salvation by which to save
people from the world. God ordered him to build an ark with gopher wood
and bring all kinds of living creatures, birds, cattle, creeping
things—each after its kind—to the ark. He then caused rain to fall upon
the earth till the whole earth was deluged. Who were the saved? Those
who were delivered from the world by staying in the ark. Those who were
delivered from the world were those delivered from the flood. In like
manner, therefore, whoever is delivered from the world is delivered from
the lake of fire. For it is not sinners who are going to hell but the
people of the world who are. Preachers often say sinners go to hell, but
actually they should say that the world goes to hell. As long as you are
among those of the world, you are destined to go to hell.

Once I met a man on a boat. He asked me:
“What kind of person is qualified for hell?” My reply to him was:
“People such as you should go to hell.” I said this to him because all
mankind must go to hell. To be saved means you are saved from the
perishing federation. Although we are not all criminals we nonetheless
are all sinners, for the Bible says that all men are sinners. You and I
may not commit a certain sin or violate some special law, and therefore
we are not criminals; yet all of us are sinners. To be saved from the
world is to be saved from the world which is under God’s judgment.

The Salvation of the Ark

At the time of the Deluge, Noah and living
creatures—birds, cattle and creeping things—were saved. Noah as well as
the ark typify the Savior. But whereas Noah is a type of the Son of God,
the ark stands as a type of the Son of Man because it is made of gopher
wood, it thus representing the human nature of the Lord Jesus. Those who
were saved in the Deluge were manifested to be those who were saved from
the world. As all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the
windows of heaven were opened, the whole world, and not just some
individuals, was condemned. Consequently, to be saved is to be saved
from the world federation. All who are in the Ark of God are saved, that
is to say, they are saved out of the world. Today a saved person cannot
be saved and yet remain in the world, even as no one in Noah’s day could
have had one foot in the ark and one foot in the world: all who entered
Noah’s ark were shut into the ark.

Since that day, therefore, it is impossible
for a saved person to love the world on the one hand and to love the
Lord on the other. Although you may do so stealthily, you are not
permitted so to do by God. One who believes in the Lord must wholly
reject the world and not love it. Do not fancy you can change things to
make them less worldly, because salvation means God has fundamentally
already taken you outof the world. And since you are outside the world, you
ought, accordingly, to live such a life. Now this which has just been
said is something quite different from exhorting people not to love the
world. Countrymen of one nation hate the people of an enemy country not
because their faces were slapped by their adversaries but because
hostility exists between the two countries. And such is now our problem.

As we have said, we are a people who have
been delivered from the world. Yet how are we delivered? God shows us
that since the world is occupied by the enemy and it thus opposes Him,
He saves us out of it. He as it were “builds” an ark in the person of
His Son and brings people out of the world into His Ark. In Noah’s day
God caused all the living things upon the earth to die except for what
He kept both of men and living things in the ark through the death of
the flood, and then He released them to fill the new world. So that what
is illustrated here is that the old federal head Adam and all who were
in Adam were rejected by God, and only the new federal head Noah and all
who were in Noah would manifest new life with their seeds replenishing
the entire earth.

Now those who were in the new earth of
Noah’s day typify all who in the future day shall inherit the new heaven
and the new earth because they are in Christ. The people who were in the
ark represent the people of our day who are in Christ. Accordingly, all
who are in Christ are those who shall be in the future new heaven and
new earth. Those who were outside the ark of Noah represent those people
who are in Adam, and therefore they are the people who will be judged by
God in the future. On the other hand, those who had entered the ark were
brought through the judgment of water and entered and filled the new
earth. And this can explain how Christ is to fill the future new heaven
and new earth.

It also speaks of the ascension of our Lord
Jesus. As the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat, their tops were
seen. It only awaited the moment for the ground to become dry. Likewise,
we are today resting on the mountains of Ararat, having seen their peaks
and waiting for the ground to dry. Because our Lord has died, been
resurrected, and has ascended, we wait until God has finished His
judgment upon the earth.

The Ark and Baptism

What we would like to focus on, however, is
not this that we have briefly touched upon above, but rather to lay
stress on the matter of baptism. We have seen what Noah did and how he
and his family passed through death by entering and remaining in the ark
until they inherited the new earth. In 1 Peter 3 we learn that the ark,
in passing through water, expresses the act of New Testament baptism.
The waters of the Deluge signify the water of baptism: “[who] that
aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the
days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight
souls, were saved through water: which also after a true likeness doth
now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (vv.20,21). How are we saved and what
saves us? Baptism saves us. Are you surprised at my saying this? Does
baptism indeed save people? May I frankly tell you that unless we are
baptized we cannot be saved. For Peter likewise declared that the
baptism as typified by the flood saves us through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. Mark 16.16a declares that “he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved.”

How we change Mark 16.16a to read: “He that
believeth and is saved shall be baptized.” The Bible, though, puts
baptism before salvation. And thus we become confused. Our view is that
only the saved can be baptized. Yet the word of God asserts that without
baptism there is no salvation—that “he that . . . is baptized shall be
saved.” In short, a person is saved because he has been baptized.

Please do not misunderstand the meaning of being saved
through baptism. For the Bible tells us of variousaspects of
salvation, not just one. Justification, for example, is that aspect
which emphasizes man’s position before God; the aspect of God’s
acceptance of man emphasizes the difference between the believing ones
and the sinners; forgiveness, the remission of our past transgressions;
and eternal life, the disparity between us and death. But the aspect of
salvation as represented by baptism emphasizes our relationship with the world. For salvation speaks not merely of our escaping hell in
the future; according to its strictest interpretation, salvation
points to our deliverance from the world today.

Who will know you are saved? Who will know
you as being of Christ? You may readily say you are saved, yet you are
not able to open yourself up and expose your faith to people. We as
human beings are unable to see man’s inward faith. Only God can see
faith in man. He knows you are already justified, accepted by Him, that
your sins have been forgiven and you have received eternal life. But men
do not know all this. James asserts that men cannot see faith; they can
only see works. Hence the first work every Christian must do before men
is to undergo baptism.

The first act before Godis to
“believe,” but the first act before menis to be “baptized.” To be baptized is to come out of the
world and enter into Christ. It is to come out of the house and enter
the ark. Baptism is a declaring—as Noah did in his day—that the
judgment, wrath and punishment of God have fallen on the world because
it resists and rejects Him. Baptism is also a declaring that we are not
willing to be ranked among the people of the world but will come out of
them and enter the Ark that God has prepared for us. Accordingly,
baptism is not a ritual of having water sprinkled upon us or of our
being immersed. It is rather a declaration that there is no longer any
relationship between the world and us since
you and I have been delivered from the world.

The real meaning of baptism lies in the fact that we who
formerly lived in the world are now dead and shall never rise again
because of the judgment which Jesus Christ has suffered for us. Though
physically we are in the water for but one or two minutes, spiritually
speaking, it means weshall never come up out of the water again. From the
viewpoint of the world, we are hereafter separated forever from it. We
have no part with it. Our parents, wives and children are dearest to us.
Yet if they are dead, they will be put away. They will not be taken out
of their graves and kept in their house with the living. Similarly, in
the eyes of the world, Christians are looked upon as being dead and
buried.

The world is composed of two sizeable federations: one is
the men of the world, the other is the saved ones in Christ. To be saved
is to come out of the world federation which opposes God, is sinful and
unclean, and to enter into the Christ federation. And therefore, we must
be baptized, because baptism can save. (Of course, one must first believein the Lord; otherwise he cannot be saved). According to
Mark 16.16, to be baptized is to be liberated. Baptism thus stands as a
great liberating force from this world and all that is of it. Yet
baptism is even more than a liberation, it is also an entry; through
baptism we enter into Christ because it is a being baptized into His
death.

The Bible declares that all who believe have
eternal life. This fact of spiritual life is due to the blood of the
Lord Jesus; and this is irrefutable. But to be saved from the world is
due to our entering into the Ark of God. And baptism serves as a
demonstration of the fact that we have indeed come out of the world
federation. Should someone ask you, for example, if you have really
believed in the Lord, you should say, “I truly do believe in the Lord
Jesus, and through His blood my sins are forgiven.” For the Scriptures
declare that “he that hath the Son hath the life” (1 John 5.12).
You are very clear about this. But suppose you lose your temper and
fight with some brothers. You may ask yourself after this incident
whether you still believe and are saved. Your answer comes forth in the
strongest affirmative, you not having the slightest doubt about it.
Nevertheless, these brothers will doubt about your salvation. How is it?
Let me now observe that many people are most certainly qualified to live
in heavenbut they
are not qualified to live on
earth.
They are able to live before God but not competent to live at home.
Allow me to say, therefore, that you should not permit people to baptize
you merely on the ground of your saying you believe. You ought to know
what baptism truly expresses before you are ever baptized. You ought to
know you have been delivered from the world, because baptism is that
action which declares to the entire world that you are no longer joined
to it and are no longer standing with it because you have been
emancipated from it. Baptism declares that henceforth you and I stand on
the side of Christ.

I am not pressing you today to be baptized;
I simply want you to understand before you receive baptism that the
world federation and the Christ federation stand as opposing camps and
that there is no ground of negotiation between them. Ages ago at the
time of Noah, God had declared that the world was His enemy, that it was
at enmity with Him. In the face of this reality, the salvation He
provided was the ark; and all who entered it thereafter stood on God’s
side, they having capitulated to Him. And hence the Bible quite
amazingly explains to us that the entering of the ark in order to pass
through the flood now signifies and expresses baptism.

I would consequently speak not merely to those who are
yet to be baptized but to all brothers and sisters in Christ: Today many
of you have already been baptized. Yet why
were you baptized? Was it because baptism to you is only a
church procedure? Merely a church ritual? Or perhaps a command of the
Bible? Or even that it is an appropriate expression of a Christian? Or a
matter of following what other Christians have done? In contrast to all
these explanations, let us ever keep in mind that basically baptism is a
turning our backs towards the world and a turning of our faces towards
Christ. It is a leaving of the world federation and a joining with the
Christ federation. And between these two—between the world and
Christ—there is no middle ground. For let us not forget that there was a
door in Noah’s ark. And that spiritually speaking, within the door is
Christ but without the door is the world. If you would see this at your
baptism, you would have no need for people to tell you how you must
change a little here and change a little there. For your leaving the
world is not as though it were a pulling out of a hair or two from your
head, but a shaving off of allthe hairs. Unfortunately, though, many believers have not
seen this.

We are often thinking of how we may change
this world; but God’s intent is to judge this world and give us a new
one. No human ways such as religious doctrine, literature, science,
philosophy or ethical teaching can change this world. God has shown us
that in spite of the loveliness and enjoyment this world gives, it
nonetheless is His enemy. So that if you are still loving this world and
living according to the world, it is because you have hope that the
world will change. Yet God has no other way to deal with the world than
to judge it.

The world of Noah’s day became new through
the washing judgment of the universal flood. In that day, God washed the
world with water; and in the future day He will burn it with fire. Are
we today like Lot who lingered in Sodom and Gomorrah which were ready to
be burned? Or are we those who are unmoved by the world’s blandishments.
How sad that many are like Lot’s wife living in and according to the
world. Like her, are we the willing inhabitants of the earth, or are we
those who let everything of this world pass us by because our
expectation is the new heaven and the new earth where righteousness
dwells?

“A light [a window] shalt thou make to the
ark” (Gen. 6.16a). This Hebrew word here translated as “light” is used
24 times throughout the Old Testament, of which on 23 occasions it is
translated as “noon” (that is to say, twelve noon)—although here it is
translated as “light” or “window.” So that the light spoken of here does
not signify a small amount of light but a fullness of light, which is to
say that it bespeaks a living in the Light of God.

“He That Believeth and Is Baptized Shall Be
Saved”

At this point I would say a few words to the
unsaved. You need to realize that we humans cannot change the world. God
will instead judge this world; such is quite certain. How, then, can you
prepare to escape God’s judgment? Please note that the ark was pitched
within and without with pitch. This word “pitch” in the original is the
same Hebrew word translated as “atonement.” Hence the word “pitch”
betokens the atoning of sin; in other words, it signifies the covering
of sin. The pitching of the ark within and without with pitch speaks of
the atonement made by the Lord Jesus. Having the ark pitched within and
without means that through the atonement by the blood of Christ the
lives inside the Ark of God—Christ himself—are preserved. Outside Noah’s
ark—that is, in the world—was the flood, and all in the world died of
that flood. Inside it, however, the ark was dry and clean. Spiritually
speaking, today all our punishments have fallen on God’s
Ark—Christ—while none has fallen on us. Whoever looks for peace,
forgiveness and salvation has but one way to go: to walk into the divine
Ark.

Although the world is full of the judgment
of God, you who are believers should know that Noah’s ark had been
pitched within and without with pitch, which today represents the
redemptive work of Christ. And if you are in the Ark of God, not a drop
of God’s judgment on the world will fall on you. Suppose someone in the
ark of old—say, the wife of Japheth or Noah’s wife—had wept and cried
aloud, “What if the ark should leak or sink?” We would
today laugh at her! Yet let me ask you, If you consider the redemptive
work of Christ to be real, if you believe the Lord Jesus was crucified
to redeem you, why, then, do you not dare to say you are saved?—why are
you still uneasy? For perhaps you too speculate, What if the blood of
the Lord Jesus should lose its effectiveness? What if the divine Ark
should leak? If this is your thinking, then I need to ask you if you
really dotrust in the finished work of Christ.

Once a person came to Dwight L. Moody with
tears in his eyes. When asked the reason, he answered, “I am afraid of
perishing. I have believed in the Lord but what must I do in order not
to perish?” Mr. Moody responded by observing that the Bible makes clear
that “he that believeth hath eternal life” (John 6.47), that “him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6.37), that “he is able
to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him”
(Heb.7.25). Moody used Scripture verses like these while he talked with
the man, but after two or three hours this man’s problem was still
unresolved. He insisted he truly believed in the Lord but that he was
afraid of perdition. To which Moody replied: “Now I am beginning to
think you are like one of Noah’s daughters-in-law who might have cried
in the ark out of fear lest it leaked.” Upon hearing this, the man
retorted by saying: “Mister, there is no such thing, for the ark is
unleakable!” “But you are that very person,” said Moody, “who cries in
the ark of safety because you are afraid it may leak.” Now as the man
heard this, he immediately understood the implication and realized how
faithless he had been.

The Lord Jesus is able to save to the very
end all who approach God through Him. There is no difference between the
wise and the foolish. To be saved or to remain unsaved depends on
whether or not one is in God’s ark. It has nothing to do with whether a
person is most wise or most foolish, whether one is wealthy or quite
poor. Those are not relevant issues at all because the one and only
question is, are you or are you not in God’s Ark of Refuge? Those who
depend on the work of Christ and enter the divine Ark are saved. As many
lives as there are today in the ark—that is, in Christ—exactly that many
will be those who are kept by God in the future.

If you want to be a real Christian, you
must—like Noah and his family—be in God’s ark and not on the ground. You
cannot be saved by your works. But you must tell the Lord, “Whatever is of
the world is not mine, for I stand on Your side.” Alas, many have believed
in the Lord, yet they have not severed themselves from whatever comes from
the world. May you be faithful to what you have done at baptism.

Finally, let us be clear that the water of
baptism does not save, it is the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus
which saves. Baptism is that which expresses our salvation. The blood of the
Lord Jesus saves us before God, and the water of baptism saves us from the
world.

The Meaning of Baptism

Grace for Grace, 49-65, CFP, Watchman Nee

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins,
calling on his name. (Acts 22.16)

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism
into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory
of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. (Rom. 6.3,4)

What Baptism Means

What is the
meaning of baptism? What is the teaching of the Bible concerning baptism?
What is the emphasis? Why does the word of God command us to be baptized?
Before answering these questions, let us first ask why we usually wash
ourselves in water? It is because of the fear of physical uncleanness. Dust
and dirt may be on our body, so we wash them away. No one will go to the
water to wash in order to make himself unclean. People wash in water to get
clean; otherwise they will not go into water. Hence, the Bible teaches that
the first meaning of baptism is to wash oneself clean. If it were not for
cleansing, we would not be baptized.

We should also
ask why we throw things into the water. Why do you cast the garbage into the
water? Because you want to get rid of it. And the Bible makes clear that the
second meaning of baptism is to be buried. You do not want it anymore,
therefore you bury it.

Wash Away Sins

In the passage
we have quoted from the book of Acts, it records how Ananias was sent by the
Holy Spirit with a clear vision and with the word of God to Saul: “And now
why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling
on his name.” So then, why be baptized? The purpose is clearly to wash away
one’s sins.

However, this
Scripture verse can easily be misunderstood. Sometime ago two brothers came
from the north of the River Yangtze and asked me about washing away sins.
Suppose a person is not baptized, they asked; are his sins unwashed? Many
other people have the same misapprehension. The Bible plainly says, Wash
away your sins. What does it mean?

Furthermore,
the Bible not only denies that baptism is merely a ritual, it also reveals
to us that baptism is a testimony. Why do people go into the water? That
they may testify before God and men and angels and Satan that they have
believed in Jesus and that what Christ has accomplished is true, perfect and
trustworthy. This is what baptism expresses and testifies.

Ananias called
Saul to rise up and be baptized. Why? For the sake of washing away his sins.
Yet Ananias did not suggest that baptism could get rid of sins, for it is
not water baptism itself that washes away sins but it is the reality which
baptism expresses and testifies to that washes away sins. The water of the
whole earth cannot wash away one single sin, yet what the water of baptism
represents and testifies to—even the blood of the Lord Jesus—isable to
wash away allsins.
Have you believed? If you have, arise and be baptized to wash away your
sins.

It ought to be
clearly realized that none who in God’s eyes is unclean and whose sins are
unforgiven may be baptized. No one who is ignorant of his sins being
forgiven and of his having eternal life can be baptized. It is not right for
such a one to be baptized. Every one who goes into the baptismal waters is
to testify to what he knows. What is testimony? To testify is to bear
witness to what is seen and known. First seeing, then testifying. He who has
not seen cannot testify. For this reason, one must know his sins forgiven
through the washing by the blood of the Lord before he can testify of this
reality before men.

Such being the
case, infant baptism is improper. If the baptized one is not able to
testify, his baptism is void. The baptism of a person who is baptized in
unbelief or before believing in the Lord Jesus does not count. Only the one
who can testify to the fact that his sins are forgiven is qualified to be
baptized. For what he does in the water bears witness to what Christ has
accomplished.

What should
one do after he knows he is saved and his sins are forgiven? He should
testify. How? Where? The first testimony is given in the water of baptism.
For this testimony is made before God and men and angels and Satan to the
effect that his sins are forgiven, they are washed away. This is therefore
the first meaning of baptism as well as its condition.

The Two Sides of Sin

Whatever the
Bible teaches is most amazing. Sin has its two sides just as the way God
deals with man’s sin is also two-sided. One side of sin is towards God, and
the other side of sin is in us. The sin before God needs to be forgiven and
washed by Him, while the sin within us must be overcome and delivered. As
regards the sin before God, the Lord Jesus has borne our sins; as regards
the sin within us, we must reckon ourselves as dead to it. For the sin
before God, there is the washing of the bloodof the
Lord; for the sin in us, there is the deliverance of the crossof the
Lord. The sin before God requires God’s forbearance and forgiveness; the sin
in us demands liberty and emancipation.

We will not go
into the nature of these two sides of sin at this time, but we will focus on
the effects of these two sides of sin. First, then, the sin before God. Such
sin will cause you to lose peace in your heart. As you think of judgment,
hell, death, and the end of human life, you know you have sinned before God.
When you reflect on the holiness, righteousness and the determinate will of
God, you tremble in fear. All who have not believed in the Lord Jesus as
Savior will have such experience. If you do not, I pity you because you are
so insensitive and ignorant of your danger. All who ponder a little on hell,
death, eternity, judgment and sin will doubtless have no peace and they are
fearful even of thinking about punishment, death and the final end.

Yet man has
sin in him as well as sin before God. Once a seminary student told his
professor that he found a new thing in the Bible, even the truth of sin. The
professor responded this way: “Why, you have just found the truth of sin in
the Bible today? I had already found it in my own heart!” One does not need
to discover the reality of sin in the Bible, he can find it in his heart.
Everybody can prove that sin is not only before God but is also within him.

Suppose you
frequently lose your temper. You rationalize that outside things stir you
up. Actually, it is not any outside thing, it is a fire within you which
often breaks out. You try to suppress it but you cannot. As opportunity
arises, it explodes. When an explosive explodes, it cannot blame an outside
fire; it has the explosive material within. Sin comes out of the heart. Many
theorize that their mind being unclean and full of sins is the result of
their being tempted by the pornography they read. But may I ask you if your
heart is wholly pure when you are under the purest environment?

Sin dwells in
man and is deeply rooted. Many sinners love to gamble and smoke opium not
because they are drawn by outside things but because they are compelled by
the sin resident within them. Sin will receive its punishment before God,
but the sin within has power over you to force you to do things you do not
want to do. You may exercise your will power to suppress it for a while, but
as soon as it has opportunity it will explode forth. This is the actual
situation of man: sin reigns within: it has power to impel us to do what we
would not want to do, because we are its slaves.

The Two Sides of Deliverance

Just as sin
has its two sides—before God and in man—so deliverance has its two sides
too. Sin has its penalty and power, therefore salvation consists of two
sides as well. Yet this is not two deliverances but two sides of one
deliverance. The Lord saves us from the fear of penalty, the accusation of
the conscience, and all agitations; at the same time, He delivers us from
the power of sin. And thus His salvation is complete. He saves us from the
penalty imposed by God and He delivers us from the power of sin in us.

How does the
Lord die for us in order to affect these two sides of sin? The Bible tells
us that he who sins must die. But the sinless Lord Jesus bore the penalty of
death for us. He shed His blood to redeem us and to wash away all our sins
before God. The blood of Christ has washed us. It is most amazing that the
Bible never says that the blood of Christ washed our heart. Hebrews 9.14
observes this: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Notice that it does not
say the blood cleanses the heart, it only cleanses the conscience.

What is the
conscience? It is that which accuses within us, telling us we are wrong,
therefore deserving of death and perdition. The blood of Christ cleanses our
conscience so that we are no longer being accused by it, thus securing
peace. His blood causes us to know that although our sins are worthy of
punishment, Christ has died for these sins and has fulfilled the
righteousness of God. However, no one by the cleansing of the blood is
transformed to be morally good and sin no more, thereby becoming free from
sin. For the blood of Christ can only cleanse us before God and eliminate
the accusation of the conscience; it does not wash our heart and make it so
clean that sin no longer is hidden in us. The blood of the Lord is
objective, not subjective, in its effect. It does not cleanse the heart; it
cleanses the conscience.

Men are all
defiled and corrupted. Through the blood of Christ, sins are forgiven and
the penaltyof sins is
paid. But the Bible never tells us that the blood can eradicate the powerof sin.
This is that other side of which we spoke earlier. The word of God tells us,
on the one side, of the blood of Christ and on the other side, of the cross
of Christ. Blood speaks of death, and so, too, does the cross. Yet blood is
related to penalty, for it deals with man’s sins before God; but the cross
deals with the power of sin within us. It is through the cross that our
heart is purified and is made capable of overcoming sin.

Let us
reiterate the difference between the cross and the blood. The blood of
Christ takes away our sins before God, whereas the cross of Christ deals
with the sin that is in us. Be aware, however, that the cross does not
crucifythe sin in us.
Many advocates of holiness err here. The cross of Christ does not crucify
sin. Nowhere in the Scripture can anyone find a verse saying that the cross
crucifies sin. Then what doesthe
cross crucify? The Lord was crucified on it. The Bible also says our old man
was crucified there as well. It was not the powerful sin that was crucified,
but it was the old man—who loved to be directed by sin—that was crucified.
It was not the root of sin which was eradicated, but it was the old man—who
was so intimate with the root of sin—that was crucified by the Lord. Let me
tell you the good news today: that when Christ was crucified, not only He
himself was crucified, but God also had the corrupted and defiled you and me
crucified with Him. We were
crucified with Him!

“Knowing this,
that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done
away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin” (Rom. 6.6). Notice
that what is said here is that the old man was crucified with Christ, not
that sin was crucified with Him. Have you not heard people say that sin may
be crucified or that the root of sin may be eradicated? Let us recognize
that there is no such thing.

In this verse
in Romans, we see three things: (1) the old man; (2) the body of sin—that is
to say, the body that sins; and (3) sin. It also tells us of three important
matters: (1) that our old man was crucified with Christ, (2) that the aim
was that the body of sin might be done away, and (3) that the result would
be that I should no longer be in bondage to sin. Thus, with the old man
crucified, I should no longer sin nor will to sin. But sin itself will not
have died, sin itself is yet alive.

Let me
illustrate it as follows: Here are the three things: the old man, sin, and
the body of sin. Sin is like a master, the old man is like a steward, and
the body is like a puppet. Sin has no authority nor power to direct the body
of sin to sin. As a master, sin directs the old man, and with the consent of
the old man the body is made a puppet. As long as the old man is alive, it
stands between the body at the outside and sin on the inside. When the
inward sin tempts the old man and stirs up its lusts, the old man gives an
order to the body to commit sin. The body is rather weak; it will do
whatever it is made to do. It has no sovereignty of its own, nor can it do
anything on its own. It does whatever the old man orders it to do. Now
though, the Lord comes to rescue us. He does not kill our body nor does He
eradicate the root of sin, He instead has our old man crucified with Him.

Consequently,
only two out of the three things mentioned in Romans 6.6 are left; the body
is at the outside and sin is on the inside. But now, in the middle, a new
person has taken over the position formerly held by the old man. So that
today in order to induce the body to sin, the sin within must come to tempt
the new man, trying to stir up lust; but the new man will not listen to it
nor agree with its suggestion. Formerly the old man contemplated a love and
desire for sin; but now the new man will have nothing to do with sin nor
will it respond to its demand. And thus, the body is not able to practice
sin.

Let us look at
Romans 6.6 further. We know that sin is most corrupt in its nature, so we
all hope to have it eradicated from our body. Nevertheless, we do not
realize that the existence of the root of sin or the existence of the devil
actually has nothing to do with whether or not we bear the fruit of holiness
in our lives. What is actually at the bottom of it all is our old man. Each
time we find ourselves tempted, stirred and committed to sin, it is all
because our old man is alive. However, the Lord has already had our old man
crucified with Him.

What is the
aim of having the old man crucified? It is just this: “that the body of sin
might be done away.” In the original Greek, the word translated “done away”
actually means “disemployed”; which signifies that without the old man, the
body of sin is disabled from doing anything. Formerly the body of sin daily
worked according to the order of the old man. Sinning appeared to be its
profession. Apart from sinning, the body seems to have had nothing else to
do because the old man loved sin too much; and hence, the body simply
followed suit and became the body of sin. But now the old man has been dealt
with by the Lord by it having been crucified with Him on the cross, and thus
the body of sin has become unemployed. Formerly, when the old man was still
alive, the body of sin daily sinned as though sinning was its profession,
its job. Thank the Lord, the irrepressible old man, the old man of you and
me, has been crucified! And the body of sin is now unemployed! Even though
sin still exists and attempts to be master, yet you and I are no longer its
bondman. In spite of its repeated efforts to cause the body to sin, the new
man, under the dominion of the Holy Spirit, will not cooperate.
Consequently, sin has now no way to cause the body to sin. The Bible shows
us that the result of having the old man crucified and the body of sin
unemployed is “that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin.”

The old man is
dead; therefore, we can overcome sin completely. The blood of Christ was
shed to save us from our sins before God and to cleanse our conscience from
accusation. It tells us that we are now no longer people of perdition but
are those instead who have peace with God. However, if we only know this
aspect of salvation, our daily living will still be miserable. Though we
know our sins are forgiven, we yet continue to make sinning our profession.
We still cannot overcome sin in our daily living, nor can we bear the fruit
of holiness. We are forced to sin daily; we have no peace in our hearts; and
our communion with God is frequently interrupted. We know we are saved and
have eternal life, but such sinning daily deprives us of the joy of
salvation. Thank God, though, that the salvation of the Lord is no half-way
measure. The Lord sheds His blood to cleanse us from our sins, and His cross
sets aside the old man and delivers us from the power of sin.

Please be
assured continually of this fact that each believer is dead as to the old
man, yet not by his committing suicide. Some preach that each Christian
ought to put himself to death in order not to sin again. Such counsel,
however, is an error, simply because that at the time when the Lord Jesus
was crucified, He brought us to the cross with Him as well. Let me ask you
today if you are dead. Let me say that you and I can thank the Lord together
for His having already crucified this hard-to-deal-with and
impossible-to-kill old man of ours. Thank and praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

I wonder if we
really know how utterly corrupted we are! I know I am most corrupted. How
many times I was oppressed by the power of sin; how I longed that I would
die. But sadly I could not put myself to death. Later on, I began to see
that when the Lord was crucified, He put my old man to death with Him that
the body of sin might no longer be in bondage to sin. And how happy I am
today!

Due to the
work of Christ, sin has been trampled beneath my feet, for it now has no
power over me. I praise and thank the Lord!

Please
recognize that your sin cannot be gotten rid of through prayer, Bible
reading, piety, worship, self-restraint, or suffering. It is only the Lord
who can do this, and who has already done it when He took your old man with
Him to the cross that you might be delivered. Always remember this: that the
blood deals with our sins before God while the cross deals with the old man.

What, then,
should be our attitude toward sin? “Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be
dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6.11). Some think
we should reckon sin to be dead; but let me tell you that it is not a matter
of reckoning sin as dead but one of reckoning self as having already been
crucified.

However, many
believers do not understand why it is that their experience does not bear
out the fact that since the Lord has already had their old man crucified,
their body of sin ought today to be unemployed and that they should no
longer be in bondage to sin in their daily lives. Yet they still continue to
sin, they still are not freed from the dominion of sin, and their body is
still busily driven to commit sins. Why is this so? It is because in spite
of what the Lord has accomplished for us in His perfect salvation, we have
not yet accepted His work and believed in what He has accomplished, and
taken His victory by faith. He has indeed crucified our old man, but we have
not single-mindedly believed that the old man was crucified, for we continue
to consider our old man to be alive.

It is in view
of this very situation that Paul after telling us in Romans 6.6 the fact of
salvation, shows us in Romans 6.11 what we should do. Romans 6.6 states that
our old man was crucified; verse 11 reasons that if the Lord has already had
the old man crucified, then we must now reckon it as truly dead, thus unable
to force us any longer to sin. We may now therefore say to sin: my old man
is dead, I am consequently no longer your slave. It is impossible for us
ever to see sin die or our lusts die. Sin is far more vigilant and active
than we are. And as soon as there is opportunity, it will attempt to lay its
hand on us. It will never die. Nevertheless, it need not be feared, for our
old man is dead. We may overcome sin not by our reckoning sin to be dead,
but by believing the accomplished work of Christ in our reckoning our old
man to be dead indeed.

How do we
reckon? Perhaps a basic lesson in arithmetic can be helpful here. Two plus
two equals four. Why do we reckon it as four? Simply because two plus two is
really four. Hence the command of Romans 6.11 to reckon ourselves to be dead
does not at all mean to imply—much like the Chinese proverb which says,
“Consider yourself as having died yesterday”—that we, not really having
died, are nonetheless to imagine ourselves as dead. No, the death of our old
man has already been carried out by God; therefore, we reckon it as indeed
most real. Reckoning simply means that since Godhas
reckoned me as crucified, I therefore also reckon myself to be dead. I
reckon two plus two as four because it is neither three nor five but in
truth four. God says I was crucified; I believe this word, so I acknowledge
myself to be dead. Faith is merely saying what God himself has said. God has
declared my sins have been forgiven, so I also declare my sins have truly
been forgiven. God has declared I have died, hence I too acknowledge and
declare myself to have died. Christians who stand daily on the ground of
what God has said in Romans 6 are able to overcome all sins. There is not a
single sin which cannot be overcome, because the Lord has crucified our old
man.

Buried

Now let us
return to our original subject of baptism. Why are we baptized? The
cleansing of sin is one side, and I being dead is the other side. Since my
sins have been washed clean, I should be baptized to testify to the fact of
sins cleansed. But then, too, because my old man is dead, I should also be
baptized to testify to the fact that my old man is actually dead. What is
the first thing done after death? Would anyone retain the corpse many days
for viewing? After so many days the corpse will probably start to decay.
Last year a sister among us died. We really missed her, but we could not
retain her body. Since a person is dead, there is no use for the dead body,
and so we bury it. Burying testifies to the fact that the buried one is
dead.

Suppose you
have a dear one whom you love as your own self. But he is sick almost unto
death. He still exhibits some pulse and some breath, though he lies
motionless and speechless. Would you put him in a coffin? No you would not.
Why? Because you do not believe he is dead. When do you bury your most
beloved parents, wife, or friend? Only when you know he or she is dead and
cannot ever live anymore do you bury that person. If there is a thread of
hope, you will not bury that one. But after the loved one is dead and beyond
hope, you can do nothing more but to bury that person.

The Bible
tells us that after our co-crucifixion with Christ we need to be buried with
Him too. The biblical meaning of baptism is not only a cleansing but also a
burial. We must be baptized because in so doing we testify to the fact that
we believe we are dead. Hence we ask someone to bury us beneath the waters
of baptism. This confirms our belief that we have died. Anyone who does not
believe that he is dead should not be baptized. For this would be a burying
him alive! He who is baptized must believe he was crucified with Christ. How
do you express your faith? How do you testify to the completed work of
Christ? Through baptism. When you are buried in the water and are baptized,
you express your faith (1) in the cleansing of your sins through the blood
of Christ and (2) in the co-crucifixion of your old man with Christ on the
cross. You believe the fact; therefore, you receive baptism to prove you are
now cleansed and dead.

Hence the
condition of baptism is two-fold. The Bible not only tells us to rise up and be
baptized to wash away our sins because we believe God has already atoned for our
sins and cleansed them; it also tells us to rise up and be buried in the water
because we believe we are dead. Not only sins washed away, but also the person
buried out of sight. Sins are washed away, and the person is likewise washed
away. Such is the meaning as well as the testimony of baptism.

Final Words

As you read this,
are you able to bear such testimony? I really have no need to persuade you to be
baptized. If you have not yet believed in the Lord Jesus and your sins have not
been forgiven, I hope you will quickly believe. If you havebelieved
but still are ignorant that sin can be completely overcome, then you ought to
know that our Lord has already had you crucified with Him. Now, nothing can
tempt you to sin, for you can overcome all sins. With a believing heart, stand
on Romans 6, believing yourself to be dead. What can sin therefore do to you?
Believers must stand on Romans 6.6 and 6.11 in order to overcome sin. Reckon
yourself to be dead, then prayer and Bible reading will be effective.

Anyone who
believes the blood of Christ has cleansed him of his sins and also believes his
old man was crucified with Christ, let him rise up and be baptized.